Aimlessness has hardly been typical of
the postwar Japan whose productivity and social harmony are the envy of the
United States and Europe. But increasingly the Japanese are seeing a decline of
the traditional work-moral values. Ten years ago young people were hardworking
and saw their jobs as their primary reason for being, but now Japan has largely
fulfilled its economic needs, and young people don’t know where they should go
next.
The coming of age of the postwar baby boom and an entry of
women into the male-dominated job market have limited the opportunities of
teenagers who are already questioning the heavy personal sacrifices involved in
climbing Japan’ s rigid social ladder to good schools and jobs. In a recent
survey, it was found that only 24.5 percent of Japanese students were fully
satisfied with school life, compared with 67.2 percent of students in the United
States. In addition, far more Japanese workers expressed dissatisfaction with
their jobs than did their counterparts in the 10 other countries
surveyed.
While often praised by foreigners for its emphasis on
the basics, Japanese education tends to stress test taking and mechanical
learning over creativity and self-expression. "Those things that do not show up
in the test scores—personality, ability, courage or humanity—are completely
ignored," says Toshiki Kaifu, chairman of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s
education committee. "Frustration against this kind of thing leads kids to drop
out and run wild." Last year Japan experienced 2,125 incidents of school
violence, including 929 assaults on teachers. Amid the outcry, many conservative
leaders are seeking a return to the prewar emphasis on moral education. Last
year Mitsuo Setoyama, who was then education minister, raised eyebrows when he
argued that liberal reforms introduced by the American occupation authorities
after World War had weakened the "Japanese morality of respect for
parents."
But that may have more to do with Japanese
life-styles. "In Japan," says educator Yoko Mum, "it’s never a question of
whether you enjoy your job and your life, but only how much you can endure."
With economic growth has come centralization; fully 76 percent of Japan’s 119
million citizens live in cities where community and the extended family have
been abandoned in favor of isolated, two-generation households. Urban Japanese
have long endured lengthy commutes (travels to end from work) end crowded living
conditions, but as the old group and family values weaken, the discomfort is
beginning to tell. In the past decade, the Japanese divorce rate, while still
well below that of the United States, has increased by more then 50 percent, and
suicides have increased by nearly one-quarter. |
